Unpopular opinions go here

[Celebrim]

Okay, but can we all agree that the uniquely English measurement in "stone" is bonkers? I have never wanted to know the weight of something relative to 14 pounds. No one has ever needed to know the weight of anything relative to 14 pounds.

Well, it wasn't uniquely British. They just ended up being the last nation using the system. It turns out that the measurement of 'stone' has a very interesting history.

It goes back to Rome.

Rome didn't use the measurement of 'stone' directly, but it did for the army craft official weights out of stone in various sizes that were multiples of a pound. It would then pay in coin for different commodities of goods from local vendors if the amount of particular commodity (beeswax, lead, wool, etc.) weighed the same as the stone for that particular commodity.

This ended up standardizing the trade units for that commodity in multiples of a 'stone', with each trade using a different 'stone'.

The surviving 'stone' measurement of 14 lbs. was just one such stone, with a great many other trade specific 'stone' weights being used prior to the 19th century.

 

[J.Quondam]

That's the trick...it's not easy. It's familiar. There's a difference.

How many teaspoons make a tablespoon? How many tablespoons make a cup? How many cups make a gallon? How many ounces make a pound? How many pounds make a ton? How many inches make a foot? How many feet make a mile?

ETA: And how many of those did you know off the top of your head without having to look them up?

There are (at least) two different use cases for measurements: calculation and every-day utility. You're kind of conflating them here.

Metric is really good at converting across big and small numbers and keeping everything in the same base. That's nice for science and engineering to make the math simpler and to ease computation.

For daily uses like sewing or kitchen or hauling, though? You just whatever is familiar or bolted onto your machine. There is nothing inherently easier about using teaspoons versus milliliters or miles versus kilometers, certainly not when you have the measuring device right there. You just drop a the spooned amount into the recipe or glance at the speedometer, no conversion necessary. There's nothing "hard" about that.

The "i betcha had to google it!" is a contrived gotcha because, in fact, it's rare to have to do most of those conversions in real life. And in the cases where conversions are routinely done (eg, ounces to pounds, or cups to pints to quarts to gallons) people who do it regularly are so accustomed to doing it that they just do it. On the other hand, it doesn't matter that no one knows how many feet are in a mile because no one ever has to figure that out in real life.

What is "easy" and what is "familiar" are actually pretty tightly coupled in real life applications outside a lab.

ETA: All that said, the way imperial mixes liquid and dry measures is a legit pain in the butt.*


* For the record, (in the US) 1 butt = 126 gallons.

 

[Faolyn]

I wouldn't go as far as "terrible", but it is best read when you are about 12.

Years and years ago, I was at San Diego ComiCon and sadly missed a panel called "The Golden Age of Science Fiction is 12."

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

"Whole Lotta Rosie" sounds a lot more poetic at 19 stone than at 120.6 kilograms.

That said, I'm reliably informed that fat-bottomed girls make the rockin' world go 'round.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The "i betcha had to google it!" is a contrived gotcha because, in fact, it's rare to have to do most of those conversions in real life. And in the cases where conversions are routinely done (eg, ounces to pounds, or cups to pints to quarts to gallons) people who do it regularly are so accustomed to doing it that they just do it.

Eh, I've started cooking and mixing drinks a lot since the pandemic and I have a ravenous 16 year old. I am often resizing recipes to fit my family and having to whip my phone out to convert cups to teaspoons and tablespoons is an unnecessary step. If I were doing it in metric, I wouldn't even have to slow down.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Years and years ago, I was at San Diego ComiCon and sadly missed a panel called "The Golden Age of Science Fiction is 12."

Comic-Con is, at its best, not thousands of people in Hall H wanting to see a trailer 30 seconds before the entire internet does, but weirdo panels put on by some smartass who rounded up some other interesting people to argue about an interesting idea. (I've even been that smartass once or twice!)

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Eh, I've started cooking and mixing drinks a lot since the pandemic and I have a ravenous 16 year old. I am often resizing recipes to fit my family and having to whip my phone out to convert cups to teaspoons and tablespoons is an unnecessary step. If I were doing it in metric, I wouldn't even have to slow down.

I have it on reasonable authority that the metric system is actually a plot to short us on eightballs.

 

[Voadam]

That's the trick...it's not easy. It's familiar. There's a difference.

How many teaspoons make a tablespoon? How many tablespoons make a cup? How many cups make a gallon? How many ounces make a pound? How many pounds make a ton? How many inches make a foot? How many feet make a mile?

ETA: And how many of those did you know off the top of your head without having to look them up?

Off the top of my head

Teaspoons to Tablespoons - do not know. 4?

Tablespoons to cup - do not know.

Cups to a gallon - do not know.

Ounces to a pound - 16.

Pounds to a ton - depends on the type of ton but 2,000 is one type.

Inches to a foot - 12.

Feet to a mile - 5,280. 1760 yards.

Most imperial conversion units going up to a different size are based around fours and sometimes both fours and threes so that you can use the smaller measurements to do halves or thirds or quarters or eighths easily.

For recipes and such this can be functionally useful.

 

[Gradine]

That said, I'm reliably informed that fat-bottomed girls make the rockin' world go 'round.

Can confirm

 

[J.Quondam]

Eh, I've started cooking and mixing drinks a lot since the pandemic and I have a ravenous 16 year old. I am often resizing recipes to fit my family and having to whip my phone out to convert cups to teaspoons and tablespoons is an unnecessary step. If I were doing it in metric, I wouldn't even have to slow down.

I can't help but wonder if having the phone available impedes one's ability to remember basic conversions, even after doing once or twice.
I know I'm guilty of that in other domains.